For those who follow baseball in Boston, however, this is a new feeling -- or, at least, a feeling not experienced in a generation. Not since 1992 has a season even resembled what this season has been; not since the mid-1960s has a season ended with

Brian MacPherson Journal Sports Writer brianmacp

NEW YORK -- They know all about this in Kansas City. They know all about this in Seattle and San Diego and Pittsburgh. They know all about this in Baltimore and Oakland and Washington and Cincinnati, too.

For those who follow baseball in Boston, however, this is a new feeling -- or, at least, a feeling not experienced in a generation. Not since 1992 has a season even resembled what this season has been; not since the mid-1960s has a season ended with more losses.

Actually, after it was all said and done, after the New York Yankees had knocked around Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston lost 93 games. Even for those who were particularly cynical about the way the 2011 season ended could hardly have foreseen as season in which the Red Sox finished in last place for the first time in 20 years.

The work to vault Boston back into contention already has begun. It will begin in earnest when Ben Cherington and his staff report for work at Fenway Park on Thursday morning.

"This team will be back," Cherington said. "There are too many good people here, too much strength and support at the ownership level. I'm confident this team will be back. How long it takes, I don't know, but we'll be better next year than we were this year."

"I think the Boston Red Sox will look different next year than what you see today," said soon-to-be-fired manager Bobby Valentine. "I think the team is close to being right where they want to be, once certain holes are filled."

The roster-obliterating trade of Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez to the Los Angeles Dodgers turned what might have been an 80- win team into the worst in recent memory. But the trade also created the budget flexibility for the Red Sox to right the ship more quickly than they otherwise might.

Even with the estimated salaries of players eligible for salary arbitration, the Red Sox have less than $100 million in payroll committed to next year's roster.

That puts the onus on Cherington and his staff to rebuild a roster that can contend with the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and resurgent Baltimore Orioles.

"Just like they have our backs, we have their backs," lefty Jon Lester said. "(The trade) was their decision to make. We have to support them and know that, going into this offseason, they have to support us and produce another good team next year -- which we all believe they will."

Some of the money the Red Sox have to spend is expected to be used to retain free agents-to-be David Ortiz and Cody Ross. Dialogue with both players and their agents already has begun, Cherington said. Dialogue has not yet begun with any other prospective free agents.

"David is someone that we feel strongly about bringing back, and we're trying to figure out a way to do that," the general manager said. "Cody fit in well and had a good year."

As always is the case in baseball, however, it will start with the pitching. Red Sox starters finished the season with a 5.18 ERA, third-worst in the American League. That the Red Sox have been pitching-deficient at the end of back-to-back seasons is not conducive to competing in any division, let alone the American League East.

"I didn't do enough to help stabilize the rotation last offseason," Cherington said. "The bottom line is that the performance of the rotation wasn't good enough to be the team we want to be, so I didn't do enough to help that."

Not in recent memory has Boston faced an offseason like this. Not in recent memory, after all, have the Red Sox had a season like this.

"Nobody likes losing," Pedroia said. "We want to win. It's tough when you lose 90 games or 91 games or however many we've lost. That's something we're not going to be happy about, and we're going to do all we can to make sure that doesn't happen anymore."

Twitter: @brianmacp

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